Released American PoWs fly home

Seven former American prisoners of war released from an Iraqi jail flew home last night from a US air base in Germany.

The seven – five soldiers from a maintenance unit, including a woman, and two Apache helicopter pilots – were rescued by US forces north of Baghdad last weekend.

Three of the soldiers with the maintenance unit suffered gunshot wounds when they were ambushed after their convoy took a wrong turn, including 30-year-old Shoshana Johnson, who was shot in both ankles.

Pictures of the bruised and scared PoWs were beamed around the world by Arab television shortly after their capture near Nasiriyah on 23 March. The soldiers, who were debriefed in Germany, described being kicked and beaten by their captors. They were stripped of their uniforms and slept on concrete floors.

Another member of their group captured at the same time, Private Jessica Lynch, 19, has already returned to the US following her dramatic rescue from a hospital in Nasiriyah on 2 April. She had both legs and an arm broken.

Ms Johnson was carried on to the C-17 transport plane on a stretcher yesterday, raising her hand in a victory sign, to cheers from well-wishers at the Ramstein base. The two Apache pilots were captured on 23 March when their helicopter came down in Karbala, south of Baghdad.